


Trace Your Bruise Like a Guilty Streak

by embroiderama



Series: Truth 'Verse [24]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Accident, Dog(s), Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-19
Updated: 2010-01-19
Packaged: 2017-10-06 11:48:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embroiderama/pseuds/embroiderama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A crisis strikes while Jensen and Jeff are both working in Vancouver.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trace Your Bruise Like a Guilty Streak

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set after all the preceding stories in the [Truth 'Verse](http://embroiderama.livejournal.com/55732.html). It occurs during early August 2007.

Jensen was sprawled on the couch in Jared's trailer, waiting for his co-star to finish gathering up his crap so they could get in the van, when his phone buzzed against his thigh. Unfamiliar number--he shrugged and answered anyway, figuring there weren't a lot of random phone calls coming in at nearly 4 a.m.

"Hello?"

"Jensen, thank God." Jeff's voice ground across the line, tense and exhausted. He was supposed to be home already. Nothing about this was right.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"I need you to call the emergency vets--I don't know how many there are up here, but the cop didn't tell me which one he was taking her to, and I need--"

_"Sir, you can't use that phone."_

"I need you to find Bisou and make sure--"

"Jeff, what the hell?"

"I'm fine. Just, please, Jen--"

_"Mr. Morgan, we have to take you up for x-rays NOW."_

"Give me just a goddamn minute!" Jeff shouted away from the phone. "I'm in the ER at Vancouver General, but--"

"You're hurt?" Jensen tasted bitter adrenaline on the back of his tongue. "Shit, I'll be there as soon as--"

"No! Just find Bisou--"

_"Sir!"_

"I have to go. Please, Jen."

The line disconnected, and Jensen sat gripping the phone until he felt Jared's hand on his shoulder. He let go of the breath he didn't realize he was holding and stood up fast. "Okay, um, we gotta get in the van. Now."

Jared looked for a second like he was going to ask questions but he just nodded and made tracks for the door. He took the stairs out of the trailer two at a time and Jensen managed not to step all over his heels. They climbed into the van and then Jared waved a hand in front of Jensen's face. "I've gotta tell Gary where to go."

"Shit, um," Jensen blinked, struggling to get his thoughts in order. "My place first. Fast as he can get us there."

Jared nodded and leaned forward to talk to Gary and Jensen stared at his cell, pulling up the Yellow Pages and trying to think how to search. "Okay." Suddenly Jared was in his face and didn't look like he was going away. "What the hell is going on?"

"Jeff--I think he was in an accident. He was calling from the ER at Vancouver General, and I heard the nurse saying something about x-rays."

"Oh, shit. You want to go straight to the hospital instead?"

"Yeah, yeah, but he was flipping out about Bisou. He said--he said she got taken to an emergency vet, but he didn't know which one. I had to swear on my life I was going to get her taken care of before I came to see him, so he sure as hell better not be--" Jensen broke off, swallowing hard. "Fuck, hurt bad. I need to get my car so I can go get his girl. Will you--?"

"I'll get Gary to drop me by the ER from your place. I'll call you as soon as they tell me anything, I promise."

Jensen nodded, not trusting his voice. Five more minutes to his townhouse, even with Gary driving like Dean Winchester on the way to a crossroads. Jensen looked at his phone again, trying to get his thumbs steady enough to type in "animal hospital."

"You know, I bet they took her to the vet over on Cornwall. I think I've still got the card in my wallet, hold tight a sec."

Jared dug through his wallet and handed Jensen a battered card with an appointment date from 2006 written on the back. The vet's office picked up after only two rings. The girl Jensen talked to confirmed that they had received a female Rottweiler mix, approximately eight years old, that was brought in from a car accident on Granville. All she could confirm was that a veterinarian was with Bisou. It didn't make Jensen feel a whole hell of a lot better but at least he'd accomplished part of what Jeff had asked.

Jensen thanked the girl and hung up just as Gary pulled up by his door. He looked at Jared. "You'll call?"

"I will. Now go! Call me if the vet says anything that sounds fucked up to you."

Jensen slid the door of the van open and hopped out, his car keys already in his hand and his finger on the unlock button.

He told himself that Jeff would be okay. He was strong, healthy. He had to be okay.

~~~

By the time Jensen pulled into the lot outside the animal hospital, he figured that Gary had dropped Jared off at the ER a few minutes earlier, having zipped through the early morning streets with his super ninja driving skills. But it always took forever to get any information in the ER, so he reminded himself to calm down and give Jared time to figure out the situation.

Inside the animal hospital, Jensen could hear muted animal sounds coming from the back rooms, but the reception area was quiet. The only other pet owners in the room were an older couple sitting on a bench by the door, so Jensen walked right up to the counter.

"Hi, yeah, I called about the dog brought in from the accident?"

"Okay." The girl smiled at him. "Please have a seat and somebody will be with you in a minute."

Jensen looked at the bench behind him, painted in pastel colors with pictures of slumbering cats and dogs, and decided to stand. Before he had enough time to come up with more than five or six different disastrous scenarios of what might be going on with Jeff, he heard steps coming around the front desk and looked up to see a middle-aged woman with straight blonde hair and a white coat walking toward him.

"You're here about Bisou Morgan?"

"Yeah, I thought you didn't know who she was?"

"We finally got her microchip run. Her tags got lost and the chip had migrated down her neck a little, but I did another pass and it turned up. I had Cindy call both of the numbers listed in the file for her but she got voice mail on both of them."

"Her owner, my friend, he was in the same accident. H-he's in the hospital."

"I'm sorry. I hope he's going to be okay. I'm sure Bisou will be thrilled to see him as soon as he gets home."

"So she's okay?" Jensen felt something in his chest ease, and he hadn't realized he was so connected to Jeff's dog already.

"She'll be fine. Her right front leg sustained a simple fracture, and we've got it in a cast. There are a couple of cuts on her nose and muzzle that needed stitches and some bruises that will make her sore for a few days, but I'll prescribe some pain pills to keep her comfortable."

"God, okay. Does she need to stay overnight?"

"No. Actually, she seems pretty anxious about being here, so it would be far better for her to get back to a familiar environment. She's a little groggy, but she can go home any time. Would you like to come back and see her?"

Jensen nodded and followed her back to a small exam room. Bisou lay huddled on the table, her poor stitched-up head and her tail lax, her bad paw stretched out in front of the good one. "Hey, girlie," Jensen called out quietly.

Bisou's head popped up and, even though her eyes looked sleepy, the end of her tail thumped the table a few times. "Aw, Jeff'll be so glad you're okay." He stroked along her back gently, mindful of bruises that lay under her fur.

The vet checked Bisou's cast and then laid her paw back on the table. "You can wait with her, if you want, while I get the prescription and aftercare instructions ready."

"Sure, yeah," Jensen answered. By the time the vet had left the room, he had his phone out, dialing his assistant from the set. "Angie? I know you're probably trying to get some sleep, but I need a favor."

~~~

Jared knew he had a few good qualities--he wasn't stupid, he wasn't cruel, he was good at reaching things on high shelves--but patience had never been one of them. He hated waiting like he hated people who were mean to dogs and waiting for information about an injured friend was right up there at the top of the list of kinds of waiting that sucked.

His brother had joked more than once that the main reason Jared had set out to become a big star was so he wouldn't have to wait so long for a table in a restaurant. And maybe it had worked once or twice when some little hostess recognized him, and maybe he should feel bad about jumping ahead of the list of potential diners at Outback, but he'd been _hungry_.

He tried not to be an ass when he did have to wait. For one thing, it just wasn't cool--everybody had to wait, so he should just suck it up and deal. Another thing was that at his height--and even more as he bulked up--he noticed that the more twitchy and pissed off he got the more the security guards paid attention to him, the more often people he was speaking to would take a step back.

Jared didn't want anybody to be scared of him--unless maybe they were threatening his dogs or his girlfriend--and he didn't want to get kicked out of anywhere for causing a disturbance. He especially couldn't get kicked out of this ER waiting room when Jensen had trusted him with finding out what was wrong with Jeff, trusted him with doing whatever he could to help.

When the desk clerk first looked up at him and gaped, he thought this was maybe going to be one of those moments when recognition would earn him a favor. Then she had struggled to spell his name, and he realized that she was just gaping at the fact that he was a foot and a half taller than her.

She had taken his name and Jeff's name and asked him to take a seat. Jared had way too much nervous energy to sit but he tried to keep from pacing too much, tried to keep the security guard from staring at him like he was thinking about calling for reinforcements. Which was ridiculous really, because Jared just wanted to find out if his friend was okay before his best friend called going completely nuts.

"Mr. Pa-Paladecki?" A doctor, thirty-something and balding, stood in the middle of the waiting room looking quizzically down at his file and then up at the people around him. Jared pushed down his irritation and stepped forward.

"Padalecki, that's me."

"Sorry about that. Okay, I'm Dr. Ingersoll. Mr. Morgan put your name down as an alternate contact on his admission sheet, so I can talk with you. I don't suppose Mr. Ackles is here? Or any of Mr. Morgan's family."

"No, Jensen's on his way. Jeff's mom lives in Seattle. I'm sure Jensen could find her number if it's, you know, real serious."

"No, nothing like that. I just have to cover all the bases here."

Jared let out a relieved breath when the doctor confirmed Jeff's injuries weren't serious.

"Okay, we just got your friend's x-rays back. We know that his ribs aren't broken, but they're quite deeply bruised. There's no skull fracture but he does have a mild concussion and he was unconscious at the scene, so we're holding onto him until we can get him in for a CT scan. That should be in about an hour."

"Okay. So, he can go home then?"

"Assuming nothing worrisome shows up on the scan, yes. He'll need somebody to stay with him for a day or so because of the concussion."

"That won't be a problem. Jensen'll take care of it."

"Good. Any other questions?"

"Can I see him? You know, a familiar face?"

"Sure, okay. It's curtain twelve back on the right."

"Thanks. I need to make a phone call first, is that all right?"

"Knock yourself out. Okay, I'll see you or Mr. Ackles again before your friend is discharged. Let the desk know if you have any questions before that."

Jared nodded, and the doctor took off to find his next patient. The waiting room was too noisy for any kind of coherent phone call, so Jared stepped outside as he dialed Jensen.

"What's going on?" Jensen answered brusquely..

"He's banged up but he's okay. They're probably letting him out in a couple hours."

"Probably? How fucking banged up?"

"Unless they find something bad that they don't expect to find. And he's got bruised ribs and a concussion."

"How bad?" Jared could hear Jensen's unsteady breath over the line. "Is he--I mean, is he awake?"

"Right now, I don't know. They said he was unconscious at the scene, but he filled out the paperwork and gave them both of our names – so he was awake, okay?"

"Okay. Shit, I'm almost done getting Bisou situated and then I'm on my way. I need to _be_ there."

"So, what's going on with Jeff's dog? If he's awake when I go in there, he's going to flip out if I don't have any news."

"Well, she's okay. I'm like ten blocks away from home, and then Angie's coming over to dog sit until we get back. She's bringing a bag to sleep over if she needs to, so I pretty much owe her a new iPod or something, but whatever. I just… I just need to be with Jeff."

"He's okay, Jen. It's gonna be all right."

"They _think_," Jensen snapped. "You don't know. Something could be fucked up in his head and by the time I get there's it's all 'Sorry, we didn't know.'"

Jared leaned back against the outside wall of the hospital and closed his eyes. "Jen, hey, are you still driving? Are you okay?"

"I'm sitting at the longest goddamn stoplight in British Columbia!" Jensen's voice raised to a shout. After a few seconds of silence, he sighed. "Shit, I scared the dog," Jensen added softly. "She's all drugged up and now she's looking at me like I just beat her with a newspaper."

"She'll forgive you. Look… Just breathe and get home safe and then get here safe. I'll be waiting for you."

"Thanks, Jay. Okay, I'm just pulling into the parking lot and I see Angie's car. I'll be there in like half an hour."

"We'll be here."

"Better be." Jensen hung up.

While he waited, Jared gave his name to a different desk clerk and she let him go back to curtain twelve like the doctor had indicated. The first thing Jared noticed was that Jeff was awake. The second was that when they said his ribs were bruised they'd left out a hell of a lot else.

Jeff's left arm, exposed by the short-sleeved hospital gown, was darkly bruised and peppered with small cuts. A lump was visible on his forehead and bruises shadowed the skin underneath his eyes, all the more stark against his pale face.

He looked like shit.

"Jeff, hey."

"Thanks for comin'," Jeff murmured, sounding exhausted and vague.

"Not a problem. Shit." Jared stepped closer and put a hand on Jeff's wrist. "Jen'll be here real soon."

Jeff's eyes were drifting closed but they popped open wide when he heard Jensen's name "Bisou? Is she okay? Did they--"

"No, hey, Jensen just got her home. She's got a busted paw, but she's okay."

"Thank God." Jeff closed his eyes and turned his head away. Jared stood next to his bed, wondering if he should leave until Jeff looked back at him and tilted his lips into a small smirk. "Gotta tell her not to copy you anymore."

"Huh?" Jared blinked, lost in the conversation and unsure if this was the concussion speaking or the drugs.

"Busted paw. Like you." Jeff lifted an eyebrow and then winced when it pulled at the cut on his forehead.

Jared just grinned and shook his head. Before he could come up with a suitable reply, some medical personnel interrupted them.

"Okay, Mr. Morgan. Time to go take a look at your head."

Jared watched as they wheeled Jeff's bed out of the room and then wandered back to the waiting room. Slumped down in one of the too-small chairs, he closed his eyes and tried to relax until Jensen got there. They'd had a long day and night on the set as usual and, as the world got into gear again for a new day, he was still waiting for this one to end.

~~~

Jensen cursed at the traffic around him as Vancouver's rush hour crowded onto its streets.

He'd driven home from the animal hospital through the dim light and empty streets of early morning but the trip back to Vancouver General, was a frustration of being stuck in the middle of thousands of people who were too concerned about getting to work on time to realize that his _lover_ had been in a car accident and that he needed to be at the hospital three hours ago.

When he finally arrived and parked and jogged to the ER entrance, it wasn't hard to spot Jared in the waiting room. Jared was sprawled in a chair with his feet out in the aisle and his butt about two inches away from sliding onto the floor and his head tipped way back--if the situation had been different Jensen would have dangled some licorice down into that gaping maw to see if Jared would bite down out of instinct.

But he needed to know what the hell was going on with Jeff.

He sat down next to Jared and nudged him awake. "Hey. Hey, what's going on?"

Jared woke up with a snort and snapped his head upright, bracing himself with his feet to keep from landing on the linoleum. "Huh? Oh, man, sorry. Gimme a sec."

Jensen felt a twinge of guilt as Jared ran a hand over his face, but he had to know what was going on with Jeff. Had to see him before he went completely nuts. "Did you get to see him," he prodded.

Jared nodded, looking more awake. "I got to see him for a few minutes. He--man, he looks like hell, but he was awake and knew what was going on. He asked about Bisou and I told him what I knew. Um, they took him up for a CT scan and said it would be about an hour until he got back. That was, um, 'bout half an hour ago."

"Shit. I should've been here. What if he--what if they find something bad and he has to have surgery and he doesn't come out of it? I mean, what if--"

"Jensen, stop. You're just jerking yourself around with the worst case scenario here."

Jensen shook his head, unable to see anything but the worst case scenario when he couldn't even see Jeff. "I should've been here."

"You did what he wanted you to do. That dog is his little girl and believe me, dude, I understand."

"Fuck what he wanted me to do."

"And he seemed okay. I mean, groggy, but okay. I bet you're taking him home in a couple hours."

"So you're a doctor now?" Jensen snapped, feeling like an ass even as he said it.

Jared held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just trying to help."

"Sorry, Jay. I'm just all--" Jensen churned his hand in the air in front of his chest to illustrate the way everything inside of him felt restless and on edge.

"I know, man." Jared reached a hand over and patted Jensen's knee. "If Sandy were in there I'd be worse'n you are, probably."

Jensen let out a brief huff of laughter, imagining himself trying to hold Jared down to keep him from running riot and then stopped as his gut twisted. "I'm going to get some coffee. You want your usual?"

"Yeah. I mean, I can go get it if you want to wait here."

"No, I got it." The longer Jensen spent sitting on his butt, the crazier he was going to get. When he came back with the coffee, he and Jared sat there quietly, no sounds passing between them other than those of drinking.

Half an hour later, when a nurse came walking toward them, Jared stood up and Jensen followed suit. His pulse beat in his ears as he waited for her to say something.

"Mr. Padalecki, your friend is back in his room if you want to wait with him again."

"The scans?" Jensen asked. "What did they show? Is he--"

The nurse looked uncertain, and Jared jumped in. "This is Jensen, Jeff's primary emergency contact. He couldn't get here right away."

"Oh, okay. Well, I don't have that information for you. Mr. Morgan's doctor should be by in a little while with the results. I'm afraid only one of you can go back at a time."

Jensen started to follow her but then turned back around to look at Jared. "Hey, why don't you go home?"

"No, man. You shouldn't have to be by yourself."

"I'm going to be with Jeff and, seriously, you look wrecked."

Jared shook his head, even though his drooping eyes belied his protest. "M'not any more tired than you are."

"I'm so hopped up on nerves, I couldn't sleep if you paid me. I appreciate you hanging out here--so much--but just get a cab and go home. I'll call and leave you voicemail when I get news."

"I'll come back if you need me to."

"I know. Go already." Jensen shoved Jared in the direction of the doors.

When the nurse pointed Jensen into Jeff's room, the first thing he thought was that Jared had been totally right about one thing--Jeff looked like shit. Jensen bit down hard on the inside of his mouth until he felt like he could move closer to the bed. Seeing Jeff's face bruised and swollen, shadows and small cuts over much of the rest of the skin he could see, physically hurt in a way that he hadn't ever felt before.

Jeff was sleeping, or unconscious, but he was breathing quietly the way he normally did in sleep. His hands were free of IVs, but a bandage made Jensen think that one had been there earlier. That was a good sign, he tried to tell himself, a sign that they were still planning to let him go home. He threaded his fingers through Jeff's lax ones and waited.

"Mr. Ackles?"

At the sound of the voice behind him, Jensen pulled his fingers away from Jeff's and turned around. "Yeah."

"I'm Dr. Ingersoll. I just got done reviewing Mr. Morgan's scans, and everything looks fine. He's got a mild concussion, but we don't see any bleeding or dangerous swelling so I'm going to release him to go home."

"He's okay? He'll be okay?"

"He's going to feel pretty bad for the next few days, but he should be just fine. I'm sending the nurse in with some instructions for you and a prescription for pain killers. It's also an anti-inflammatory, so please do make sure he takes it for the next couple of days at least. Mr. Padalecki said that you would be staying with Mr. Morgan?"

"Yeah. Well, he's staying with me but whatever." Jensen glanced over at the bed where Jeff lay still asleep. "But if he's okay, why isn't he awake?"

"He's had a hard night, that's all. Here, let's wake him up so that he can begin to get ready for discharge." The doctor walked over to the bed and jostled Jeff's right shoulder until Jeff began to come awake with a wrinkling of his forehead that told Jensen he was in pain.

"Jeff," he breathed.

When Jeff opened his eyes and turned a sleepy smile in Jensen's direction, Jensen's morning suddenly got a whole lot better.

~~~

The ride home sucked.

Jeff was awake, barely. Jensen had reclined the passenger seat back so that Jeff could get some rest on the drive home but, before they got out of the parking lot, he had to stop and help Jeff get upright; having his eyes closed and not being able to see out the window was making Jeff sick to his stomach. So he sat hunched in the seat with an arm around his ribs, groaning low in his throat when they went over bumpy patches of road.

When they were two miles from home, some idiot cut into traffic two cars in front of Jensen. When the guy in the Explorer laid on his horn Jeff jerked up, his eyes wide in panic, before slumping back against his seat with his lips pressed together in pain.

Jensen put his hand on Jeff's thigh and rubbed a little with his thumb, hoping there weren't any bad bruises there. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah," Jeff whispered. Jeff moved his hand to lay heavily on top of Jensen's until Jensen needed to turn into his complex and park.

Once they shuffled inside together, Jensen steered Jeff to the couch and gently lifted Bisou up to sit next to him before seeing Angie out. As he walked back to the couch, he could hear Jeff speaking quietly to Bisou, petting her with one hand and exploring her injuries with the other. He felt like an intruder and veered into the kitchen to get Jeff something light to eat and drink and something to fill the pit in his own stomach. They'd been together a long time, Jeff and Bisou. Jensen couldn't begrudge them the moment.

He put a container of beef barley soup in the microwave for Jeff and stood up against the counter eating a sandwich with his eyes closed, listening for the beep that would tell him it was time to stand up straight again.

~~~

Jeff ate most of his soup and took his pills, and when Jensen stood up to take the empty bowl and cup back to the kitchen, Jeff reached out to grab his arm.

"Mmm, hey," he said. "Sorry I'm so spacey."

Jensen put the dishes down and sat on the arm of the couch. He ran his hand tentatively through Jeff's hair, taking care not to touch the bruised lump on his forehead. "You can be as spacey as you want." Jeff closed his eyes and looked asleep. _As long as you're here,_ Jensen thought.

Jeff just groaned in protest when Jensen suggested going upstairs to bed, so Jensen pulled the pillows away from the back of the sofa and piled them up against one end so that Jeff could stretch out without stressing his ribs. He moved the drowsy Bisou to a folded up blanket on the floor and then helped Jeff shift around and get comfortable. The instructions from the hospital said to ice his ribs, so Jensen pulled out the icepacks he kept in the freezer for heavy stunt days.

Perched on the edge of the couch, Jensen pushed up Jeff's t-shirt and hissed at the dark bruises on his usually smooth olive skin. He ghosted a hand across the worst of the bruises, not quite touching, and let himself imagine how much worse it might have been.

CGI images he'd seen on TV shows played inside his mind--ribs breaking and impaling lungs, liver, heart. Blood gushing inside and out. The patient dead on a table.

Jeff grunted softly at the weight of the icepacks on his ribs and then quieted once more. Jensen sat next to him until it was time to take the ice off and return it to the freezer and then he settled himself in the big armchair next to the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table. Dim Vancouver sunshine shone in the windows. He normally hated sleeping in a lit-up room but, before he had time to worry about that, he was asleep.

His phone woke him up a few hours later. His first thought, when he saw the caller was Kim Manners was _shit, filming_. "Kim?"

"Hey, Jensen, I'm sorry if I woke you. Jared called me about the accident." As the most hands-on of the producers, Kim knew that Jeff was staying with Jensen for the time being. If he knew or suspected anything more, he'd never mentioned it.

"Oh, no, it's okay. I needed to get up anyway. But, um, I don't think I can make it in today. I'm sorry, I know that really--"

"It's taken care of." Kim cut off Jensen's apology.

"What?"

"We're going to rearrange the schedule a little, film with Jared and the other actors as much as possible for the next two days, then it's the weekend. We'll need you back in on Monday, but--"

"That's great. Seriously, thank you." Jensen heard a groan from the couch and saw that Jeff was waking up. "Is there anything else I need to do right now? I kind of need to go check on Jeff."

"Just one thing. I don't know who Jeff has as far as family but he might want to call them, let them know he's okay. There's an article going online about the accident, and I'm sure there are people who would rather hear it from him than from Google Alerts."

"An article? I don't even know how the accident happened."

"It was a drunk driver, a woman who'd been arrested several times, but she had some kind of connections and slipped through the system. There were a few other cars in the accident, no fatalities, but a friend passed me the heads up that Jeff's name would be mentioned in the article."

"Shit, okay." Jensen saw Jeff grimacing his way to full alertness and wanted to be off the line two minutes ago. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll see you Monday."

Kim might have said something else but Jensen missed it as he hung up and walked over to sit next to Jeff.

"Jeff? You waking up?"

Jeff opened his eyes and started to sit up but, before he had more than his shoulders lifted off the cushions, he stopped with a grunt and wrapped an arm around his ribs.

"Whoa, slow down." Jensen splayed a hand on Jeff's unbruised shoulder. "I've gotta get some ice on you again."

"Only if you want me to piss on your couch."

"Then let me help you up." He slipped an arm under Jeff's shoulders and slowly levered him into a sitting position. Jeff panted, muttering _fuck_ under his breath like a mantra, but he gestured impatiently when Jensen tried to make him wait for a minute before standing.

Jensen hauled him to his feet where he swayed for a moment with a wavering _motherfucksonofabitch_ before shuffling off to the bathroom. Jensen shadowed him, waiting outside the bathroom when Jeff held him off with an upraised palm.

So much of his attention was focused on the other side of the door, alert for sounds of Jeff getting dizzy or having trouble, that he didn't notice Bisou's approach until she nudged him in the thigh.

"Hey, girl." Jensen crouched down to pet the unscratched part of her head and sympathized with the rapt way she stared at the bathroom door. Sitting on her haunches, she looked normal, with the exception of the white cast on her lower leg. When the sound of the toilet flushing let her know that her favorite human would be reappearing soon, she started hobbling in a circle, surprisingly agile on three legs.

When Jeff opened the door to the sight of Bisou running around, his pained face went soft and he shuffled back to the couch so that he could pet her without making his ribs scream. Bisou sat on the floor next to the couch and cast imploring eyes up at Jensen until he sighed and lifted her up to sit next to Jeff.

Resigned to being stuck with the far side of the couch for the time being, Jensen sat. "Before I go get you some more ice and pills, I should tell you that Kim Manners called. He said there's an article about the accident going out with your name in it, so you might want to call your mom so she doesn't, you know, get worried."

Jeff didn't talk about his mother a lot, but Jensen knew they got along well. He'd heard enough of Jeff's side of a phone conversation to know that he was open with her about their relationship. The apparent fact that it was a casual thing for Jeff and his mom, not a matter of family stress and strife, sounded as beautiful and unlikely to Jensen as a fantasy world. Then again, Jeff never mentioned his father, so maybe the fantasy wasn't quite so complete.

"Aw, hell," Jeff moaned. "I was hoping I could wait until later, but they'll probably make it sound like I'm in a coma if it'll get more hits to the page."

Jensen snorted and nodded his head, knowing it was true. He pulled his cell out of his pocket and handed it to Jeff. "I don't know what happened to your phone. The hospital didn't have it."

"Great, I'll have to check with the rental company, see if they found it in the wreck." Jeff swallowed, suddenly looking a little sick. "If it survived."

Jensen put his hand on Jeff's arm and rubbed gently. "You and Bisou survived, that's what's important."

"Yeah." Jeff cleared his throat. "I guess I better make that call."

"I'll get the pills and ice." Jensen walked into the kitchen and fiddled with the ice pack longer than necessary in attempt to give Jeff his privacy. When he heard Jeff call his name, he hurried back out into the living room.

"What's wrong?"

Jeff rolled his eyes, looking exhausted, and held out the phone. "She wants to talk to you."

"To me?" Jensen whispered the words, wondering why in the world Jeff's mom would want to speak to him, what she might _say_. Jeff shrugged silently then grimaced at the tug on his ribs. That reminded Jensen of the ice in his hands and the job he had to do. Jeff's mom could just wait a minute.

"Okay, let me just get this on you." He laid the ice carefully over Jeff's ribs and pulled a blanket up over him before taking the phone out of Jeff's hand. "Mrs. Morgan?"

"It's Ms. Thomas, but you can call me Sandy, hon."

Jensen felt horrible, suddenly, that he knew next to nothing about Jeff's family. Jeff had helped him so much with his own family, suffered the fallout of his struggles with what his family would think of him, and Jensen was clueless. "So what can I do for you, ah, Sandy?"

"Well, I asked my son if he wanted me to come stay with him--it's not far--but he said that you were taking care of him."

"I'm trying to."

"It's just--and I'm sorry if this sounds unkind, but I just found out that my son was almost killed, so please forgive me--but all I know about you other than how much he loves you is that you're rather young."

_How much he loves you_ echoed warmly in Jensen's chest, but he had to give the woman credit for being straightforward. "I'm twenty-nine. I don't know how young that really is."

"Oh, Jensen. It's very young, and I worry--he's been hurt, and I wonder if you're going to stay."

Jensen almost corrected her that it was his townhouse but then he realized that she was talking about things beyond the next few days, beyond this temporary hurt of bruised ribs. "He would have to make me leave," he said, putting all of his feeling, all of his fear from the last day behind his words. "_He_ would have to _make_ me leave."

She was silent for a moment, only the sound of her breathing between them, and when she spoke again her tone was softer. "You tell him, then, that it's high time you both come visit me."

"Okay," Jensen said and hung up, feeling unsteadily certain that something big had just happened.

 

~~~

By Saturday morning, Jeff's bruises were turning rainbow colors and he wasn't rubbing at his temples anymore. Though he couldn't move very far or fast without wincing and pressing a hand to his ribs, he was restless and twitchy, unable to settle comfortably on the couch or the bed. Jensen watched as he ran a finger along he cast on Bisou's leg and the healing cuts on her face.

The guilt on Jeff's face made Jensen want to find the woman responsible for the accident and shake her until she cried.

Jensen had tried once to broach the subject with Jeff but soreness and inaction had lead to crankiness and raw nerves. For the sake of peace, Jensen decided to give it a break.

Watching Jeff twist his arms and shoulders, working out the kinks without straining his ribs, Jensen got an idea for something that might help Jeff feel better, at least physically. In the bathroom, he filled up his oversized tub--the feature that had sold him on renting this unit--and dumped in some Epsom salts as well as the sharp-smelling bath oil Jensen had learned about from some of his co-stars on _Dark Angel_, back when he got his first taste of getting beat up on camera as part of a day's work.

When the tub was full and the room warm and thick with steam, Jensen went to get Jeff.

"Hey, Jeff?" He called into the bedroom where Jeff was poking at a crossword puzzle.

"Yes, I did my deep breathing," Jeff snapped, not looking away from the paper in front of him.

Jensen scratched the back of his head. He'd only reminded Jeff a couple of times to do the breathing exercises the doctor recommended to reduce the risk of pneumonia. "Okay, Mr. Cranky, you're under arrest. Come on."

Jeff looked suspicious but he allowed Jensen to help him up from the bed. In the damp bathroom, he looked back and forth between the full tub and Jensen.

"I know you're usually a shower person, but this should feel good on your bruises. Come on." Jensen untied Jeff's robe and pulled it off his shoulders before hanging it from the hook on the door. Jeff closed his eyes, and the tight lines of his shoulders relaxed as he allowed Jensen to remove his t-shirt and sweats.

"'m sorry for being such a nice guy the last couple days," Jeff said, an apology in his eyes as he opened them to walk over to the tub.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for. You feel like shit, I get that. But maybe I can help improve that from utter shit to mild crap."

"I could go for that."

Jeff hissed as he stepped into the hot water but as the warmth enveloped his stiff lower back and, when he leaned his shoulders onto a folded towel Jensen held in place for him, Jeff couldn't help but sigh in pleasure.

"Can I wash your hair?"

Jeff hadn't done it because the movement pulled on his ribs and his head must have been itching after three days--one more annoyance.

"You _want_ to do that?" Jeff looked over at Jensen like he must have been crazy to think such a thing.

"I like to make you feel good." He filled a cup with warm water and poured it over Jeff's head. He began to massage his fingers through Jeff's hair using some of Jeff's woodsy-smelling shampoo in his hands, working from his forehead and temples, gliding his fingers lightly around the healing lump, and pressing more firmly back toward the tight muscles at the base of Jeff's head. Jeff relaxed further, the weight of his head growing in Jensen's hands. He rinsed Jeff's hair with cupfuls of warm clear water, tilting back Jeff's head to avoid getting it in his eyes.

When Jeff's hair was clean, Jensen slid his hands down to rest on Jeff's shoulders--not a massage or an embrace but a touch that hinted at the offer of both. Jeff lifted one hand to rest over top of Jensen's and drew him around before pulling him into a kiss.

"Thank you. Somehow, you know just what I need."

"I remember thinking the same thing about you a time or two. Like not so long ago, in Texas."

Jeff ran a wet hand over Jensen's hair. "He'll come around."

Jensen shook his head, running a hand over Jeff's less-bruised upper chest. "I don't want to think about that. I've got you here, and that matters a whole hell of a lot more than whatever my dad thinks about me. I mean, when I thought that maybe something would happen to you at the hospital before I could get there? The fact that I can touch you now is all I want to think about."

He leaned in to kiss Jeff and skated his wet hand lightly over his bruised midsection and slipped his hand down into the water where he could wrap his fingers around Jeff's cock. He couldn't help but smile when Jeff gasped into his mouth.

"I can make you feel better," he offered with his voice and the teasing movement of his fingers.

Jeff nodded, and Jensen continued stroking Jeff's shaft, flicking his thumb up over the head at the top of each stroke. He took it slowly, letting the languid feel of the warm water guide his movement. His own cock grew hard, pressed up against the zipper of his jeans and the hard ceramic of the tub, but he knew he'd have time to deal with that later.

Jeff's breathing grew rougher and deep, endorphins overriding the tenderness of his ribs, and Jensen tightened his grip, moving his hand quicker but still steady as Jeff bit his lip and flung his hand over the side of the tub to tangle in Jensen's shirt. Jeff came, ropy spurts of come shooting out into the water between his legs until he relaxed back onto the folded towel again.

Jensen reluctantly let go of Jeff's softened cock but kept his hand under water, stroking his palm over Jeff's lightly furred thighs, the purple-green bruise on his hip from the seatbelt, the old scar on his knee, his strong calves and long, wide feet.

He knew he'd told Jeff's mother the truth and the only scary thing was that he really wasn't scared anymore.


End file.
